After days of saying Monday night’s relocated game against the Chicago Bears at TCF Bank Stadium was their sole priority, a Minnesota Vikings executive detoured Friday, using the roof collapse to question the viability of the Metrodome and stir the debate about a new stadium in the Twin Cities.

Lester Bagley, vice president of public affairs and stadium development, told reporters at Winter Park that the Vikings have safety concerns about playing in the Dome in 2011 after the team was exiled from its home stadium early Sunday when the roof ripped and collapsed under about 17 inches of snow and ice.

“This is Minnesota. It snows. We’re a hearty bunch. We deal with it,” Bagley said. “Some people would say, ‘Well, a couple of shingles come off the roof, you don’t build a new barn.’

“Well, the roof collapsed. We have concerns about the safety of the facility going forward. We’ll deal with that after the game, as well as we’ll deal with the financial and economic impacts of what happened.”

Asked whether it was possible the Vikings would not play at the Metrodome in 2011, the final year of their lease with the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, Bagley demurred.

“No, I’m saying we have concerns about the safety and viability of that structure going forward,” he said. “We’ll deal with that in the near future.”

Bagley declined to say whether a new roof, which would cost $12 million to $15 million, would allay the Vikings’ concerns.

“I’m not going any further than what I just said. We’ll talk about it next week,” he said.

But Bagley went further publicly with complaints about the Metrodome than any team official since the roof collapsed. They were added to a familiar list of gripes the Vikings have with the facility, which ranks near the bottom of revenue-producing stadiums in the NFL.

Commission executive director Bill Lester promised that the Dome would be repaired in time for next football season. Lester insisted damage was minimal.

“This isn’t without precedent. Even after (Hurricane) Katrina, the Saints went back and played in the Superdome,” Lester said.

He said the commission should have a better idea next week about when the Metrodome can reopen. He did not envision scenarios in which the repairs would be too expensive or the Dome could not be patched.

“Everything they told us so far is … that there’s a fix here and a schedule will develop, and we’ll move forward,” Lester said.

With their lease expiring next year, the Vikings are preparing a full-court lobbying press this legislative session for a public financing agreement to help them build a stadium that is expected to cost between $700 million and $900 million.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Gov.-elect Mark Dayton were scheduled to meet Monday to discuss the team’s stadium situation, a get-together that was planned before the Metrodome collapse.

Goodell is visiting Minneapolis to celebrate the Vikings’ 50th anniversary and will attend Monday’s game against the Bears at TCF Bank Stadium.

Dayton said he would insist that no general revenue funds be used to help finance a Vikings stadium.

“If (a new stadium’s) 8,000 construction jobs over the next three years and those tax revenues, the contracts with Minnesota businesses and those tax revenues, and the other economic benefits to our state exceed any public costs, then it is a good deal for the people of Minnesota and I will support it,” the governor-elect said.

Meanwhile, at TCF Bank Stadium on Friday, the field was cleared of snow enough to reveal yardage markers. Grounds crews from the Vikings, Bears and Gophers started thawing the playing field for Monday night’s game.

Workers spread rubber pellets to help soften the FieldTurf, an artificial surface similar in length and texture to grass. A pair of red, white and blue NFL shields will be painted before the field is covered with a tarp this morning and insulated with hot air, said TCF Bank Stadium head groundskeeper Mike McDonald.

The field will remain covered until about three hours before Monday’s 7:20 p.m. kickoff, McDonald said, to keep it thawed as long as possible.

A representative of the NFL Players Association met with the grounds crew to monitor progress for Vikings and Bears players, some of whom expressed concerns about playing on a frozen, unfamiliar surface that does not have underground heating coils to prevent it from freezing.

“From what I can tell, I don’t see any reason why this field shouldn’t be perfect for Monday’s game,” said Ernie Conwell, regional director for the players union.

Added NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, “We are satisfied with the condition of the field.”

Former Gophers and Vikings great Carl Eller came to TCF Bank Stadium to thank workers for helping clear snow. He recalled playing outdoors for the Gophers at old Memorial Stadium and the Vikings at Met Stadium.

“I think it’s going to be fun playing in this kind of weather,” he said. “They should bring (former Vikings coach Bud Grant) back and let him coach this game. Then, they would get rid of the gloves and all that stuff.”

The stadium can seat about 51,000 fans, with an additional 3,000 designated standing room spots in the plaza behind the west end zone. The Metrodome holds slightly more than 63,000 fans.

Turned off by the cold or the potential hassle of a general admission seating policy that does not guarantee any seat, attendees are not expected to exceed TCF Bank Stadium’s capacity, said Steve LaCroix, the Vikings vice president for sales and marketing.

“We’re feeling very confident that there’s going to be no one turned away,” he said.

LeeAnn LeSur, a season-ticketholder for 30 years, shares two seats with her son, Matt, at the Metrodome’s 50-yard line behind the Vikings’ bench. LeSur, a Ramsey County court clerk, said she has no desire to shiver through an outdoor novelty act.

“If they were in playoffs, I might be sitting out there, but not at this point,” LeSur said Friday.

Bill Spear of New Brighton, who has had season tickets for 14 years and said he attended the Vikings’ inaugural game against the Bears in 1961, imagines the scene outside the gates Monday night.

“It’s going to be like the Oklahoma land rush getting to our seats,” he said. “I wonder if you’ll have to put a grenade on your seat to go to the bathroom. I hope everybody stays mature about it and gets in there safely.”

Brian Murphy has been on the Pioneer Press sports staff since 2000, migrating from the Detroit Free Press, where he covered police, courts and sports for four years. Murphy was the Minnesota Wild/NHL beat writer from 2002 to 2008 and has covered the Vikings as a reporter and columnist since 2009. Murphy is a Detroit native and Wayne State University graduate.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Sports

Nate Mason rolled down his sock and pulled up the cuff his compression pants to reveal a big bruise on his right shin during pregame warmups Wednesday at Williams Arena. The blue mark — from being tripped late in Monday’s loss to rival Wisconsin — was the latest hurdle of adversity heading into the senior guard’s final game at the...

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The final season of the franchise-record contract the Minnesota Twins gave Joe Mauer has begun, bringing with it the inevitable questions about his future. For now, before any such decisions must be made by the front office or the soon-to-be-35-year-old first baseman, Mauer has found himself in a reflective mood. He has started his 17th major...

There weren’t many positives to pull out of the Timberwolves’ home loss to Houston in the days leading up to the all-star break, the exception being the play of Minnesota’s starting point guard. Jeff Teague finished with 25 points, eight assists and five rebounds while taking 15 shots from the field. He was assertive but not selfish, a trademark of...

Safety Ken Handy-Holly has made a decision to leave the Gophers football team, a school spokesman said. The freshman from Jackson, Ala., had 12 tackles, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble in eight games last season. He had his redshirt removed after Antoine Winfield Jr., was injured in the Big Ten opener against Maryland on Sept. 30. Handy-Holly was rated...

Red Wing’s Taylor Heise had a high school hockey career for the books. The Gophers commit netted 67 goals this season and has more than 200 for her career. But she couldn’t get much of anything going in Wednesday’s Class A quarterfinal against Proctor/Hermantown, and neither could her teammates. The unseeded Mirage suffocated third-seeded Red Wing with physical play and...